Turn to Matthew chapter 25. The title of this message is Final Separation. Final Separation. The second
coming of Christ. I'm going to put it up on the
internet as the second coming of Christ part three. The final
separation. This, that our Lord is speaking
of here, started back in chapter 24, when He spoke of the destruction
of the temple. And the disciples said, tell
us when shall these things be? When shall be the end of the
world? They're talking about the end of the age. I don't believe they
were talking about the end of the world as we know that's coming
to an end. But they were talking about the
end of that age, the end of the Roman Empire, the end of their
government and their rule, and that the kingdom would be immediately
set up and that they would be delivered from all that Roman
power. And they would be the one in
charge. When do we get to be in charge? They didn't really
understand that the kingdom of God is a spiritual kingdom made
up of those born of God. So our Lord here in this verse,
He's going to wind this lesson up because it says in verse 1
of chapter 26, And it came to pass when Jesus had finished
all these sayings. You see, in chapter 25, we looked
at the 10 virgins. Five were wise, five were foolish. Then we looked at the ones who
were given talents. One was given five talents, two
talents, and one talent. And what happened to them, they
were not all. And what he's saying in those
two parables is not all that's in the visible church who profess
to be saved, who profess to know Christ, really do. And now here
he's dealing with, this is the end, this is the second coming
of Christ. And he's telling us here that
he's coming again. The Lord Jesus Christ, just as
sure as you and I exist, is coming again. He's coming. There's no
doubt about that. You know, the Old Testament kept
saying, someone's coming, someone's coming. They kept looking for
the Messiah. And finally, after about, what,
4,000 years, he came, he came. And now 2,000, around 2,000 years
has gone by. And the church is still here.
We're still here preaching the gospel. But sooner or later,
he will come. He will come. You just mark that
down. And when He comes, He will come
with great glory and power. And He's going to come with all the
holy angels with Him. They are under His command. There
is nothing, no one, that is not under the command, the authority
of Jesus Christ. The whole creation is His, we
looked at this in Psalm 24, and they who dwell therein and everyone
is under the authority of Christ. He said in John 17, I think it's
in verse 2, Father, thou hast given me power over all flesh,
that I should give eternal life to as many as you've given to
me. But I have power. I have power over the greatest
monarch on this earth and I have power over the person that no
one really knows. I have power over all of them.
For this purpose, that I may give eternal life to as many
as you've given to me. No one, no one, no person can
put in check the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen, not even my will. I can't
even put him in check. If He has purpose to save me,
I promise you this, He's gonna save me. He's gonna save me. If it's His will, if it's His
will, it's not a matter of, listen, it's not a matter of power, it's
a matter of His will. It's not of Him that willeth
nor of Him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. So when He comes, He's going
to come in great glory and power, and all the holy angels are going
to be with Him, and He's coming to make a final separation between
the sheep and the goats. That's what He tells us here.
We'll see this. He's going to make a final separation between
the sheep and the goats, the saved and the lost. There are
only two types of people in this world. There are only two. Those
that are saved, those that are lost. Remember back to the ones
that were given the talents. One was given five talents, two
talents, and one talent. And in the one talent, he hid
it in the earth. And he said, take that talent
from him and give it to the one that had 10 talents. He turned
his five into 10. He said, for those that have
shall more be given. And those that have not, they
have not the grace of God, they have not faith, they have not
Christ. They have not, even what they have will be taken away.
So you have two people, you have sheep and goats, lost saved,
the haves and the have-nots is what you have in this world.
Now we have here in verse 31, when the Son of Man shall come
in His glory and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He
sit upon the throne of His glory. We have a person here that's
revealed. He's called the Son of Man. How
often in the Gospels did Christ call Himself the Son of Man?
So it's evident, there's no doubt, that the judge who sits upon
the throne here is the Lord Jesus Christ, that One who was despised
and rejected of men, that One whom the Jews said, we will not
have this man to reign over us. He is the One who's going to
take the throne, He's going to sit down, and every person that's
ever been on this earth is going to be called before Him. That's
why He's saying it. This is the one whom the Father
exalted at His right hand to be a Prince and a Savior. And
as the Scripture says, He has committed all judgment to the
Son. Kiss the Son, that's what it
says in Psalm 2. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry,
and his wrath be kindled but a minute. All judgment is in
the hands of Jesus Christ. Can you imagine? I try to imagine. I imagine the Lord in all His
glory, and we can't even begin to expound what that is. But
here He's, in all His glory, He takes the throne. And then
He calls, listen, all nations. He's not just calling people
He knew. No, all nations are going to
be summoned. They're going to be summoned
before Him. He's going to come in His glory.
He's going to sit upon His throne. And everybody's going to see.
that this man, this Galilean, this man who was despised and
rejected of men is the God of glory, is the judge. He's the judge. The first time
our Lord came into this world, nobody took notice of it, a few
people, but not many. Here, everybody's going to see.
Everybody's going to see him in his full glory, those who
love him and those who hate him. Those who loved Him and those
who were just indifferent, all going to be summoned before Him.
He's going to take His throne and He's going to execute judgment.
He's going to execute judgment. Listen to Acts 17.31, I'll just
read it to you. It says, Because He hath appointed
a day in the which He will judge the world in righteousness by
that man, whom He hath ordained, whereof He hath given assurance
unto all men, in that He hath raised Him from the dead." He's
raised from the dead, the One who was crucified, the One who
was put to death, God raised Him from the dead. And this is
the One who's going to sit on the throne and call all nations
before Him. "'And before Him shall be gathered
all nations.'" The ones right now that They won't let the gospel
in, they don't want the preachers coming in, the preachers of the
true gospel. They hate it, they're gonna be
summoned too. Boy, can you imagine what a day
of surprises that's gonna be? When all people find out that
Jesus Christ really exists, and that Jesus Christ really is God,
I just, whenever I hear of anyone dying, passing away, my first
thought is always, they know now, and I'm not talking about
believers. I know believers know this, but those who die without
faith, they die in unbelief. My first thought is this, they
know that Jesus Christ is real now. They know He's real now,
but it's too late. And before him shall be gathered
all nations, and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd
divideth his sheep from the goats." All those on this earth is going
to be summoned. And here's what he's going to
do. He's going to divide his sheep from the goats. Now, I want you to understand
something. Never do you ever read in the scriptures of Christ
turning a goat into a sheep. A sheep has always been his sheep.
Turn over to John chapter 10. It just came to me while I was
sitting up here, thinking about this message, and they were singing.
I was listening to you sing, but I was also thinking. I was
thinking of this verse while they were singing. In John chapter
10, let me get to the verse. Verse 14. I am the good shepherd,
and know my sheep. I know every last one of them.
He knew them before the world was. I'm the good shepherd, and know
my sheep, and am known of mine. They'll be called by the gospel,
he'll make himself known to them. As a father knoweth me, even
so know I the father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. And other sheep I have which
are not of this fold. That's you, all of you who believe
the gospel here, that's us. That's us. There were other sheep,
Gentiles. God has a people out of every
kindred, tribe, tongue, and nation under heaven. And he said, "...other
sheep I have which are not of this fold, they are of the Jewish
fold. Them also what? I must bring in." I must bring
in. I must call them. I know them. I know who they are. I know them
by name. I know them. So what's going to happen here
is there will be a clear distinction made between the righteous and
the wicked. That's not easy to tell here,
is it? Because when you think of wicked,
you're thinking of somebody out there that's stealing, robbing,
and killing. That's the kind of wicked. When
we think of wicked, that's what we think of. Wicked is not to
believe God. Wicked is not to believe God.
Wicked is to lie on God. It's to take the gospel and twist
it. Take the word of God and twist it. That's wicked. That's
the wicked. And you're going to make a clear
distinction between the righteous and the wicked. It says over
Malachi 3.18, then shall you return and discern between the
righteous and the wicked, and between him that serves God and
him that serves God. Only the Lord knows the difference.
Only He can see the heart. That's why He said, let the tares
and the wheat grow together. Remember they said, you want
us to go out and pull the tares up? He said, no, less doing that,
you'll destroy the wheat. He said, you leave that alone.
You leave that alone. He's talking to people like me,
you just keep preaching the gospel. I'll make the final separation,
I'll make that separation. And without this separation,
heaven wouldn't be any better than this place. It wouldn't
be any better. Now in verse 33, And he shall
set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. The
sheep shall have the place of honor and glory, They're going
to be seated there with their Lord. But the goats are going
to have the place of dishonor and contempt. If you'll notice here, all distinction
is gone. There's nothing made of rich,
poor, the well-educated or the uneducated. It's just this, sheep
and goat. That's it. That's it. You're either a sheep on the
right or a goat on the left. It's one or the other. Then he
says in verse 34, Then shall the king say unto them on his
right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world. The judge here is the King of
glory, the Lord Jesus Christ. And when He speaks to them on
His right hand, He speaks to them in peace. He speaks to them
to comfort their hearts. And He says to them, you are
blessed of My Father. My Father has blessed you. And He blessed you before the
foundation of the world. Look over in Ephesians chapter
1. In Ephesians chapter 1, listen to this. Paul says in
Ephesians chapter 1 verse 2, Grace be to you and peace from
God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with
all spiritual blessings and heavenly places in Christ, according as
He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world.
You see, listen, God is a God of order. God did not create this thing
and then just let it go. All things, listen, it says in
Colossians, all things were made by Him, Jesus Christ, and all
things were made by Him and for Him. The whole creation is made by
and for Jesus Christ. You know how sad it is to go
through a life and never worship Him who created me? That's amazing. I mean, I know how because of
sin. I know how dead we are by nature
because of sin. But to go through life and to
never give unto Him the glory due unto His name, what would
you do with that person? Take a child in your house. Take
someone you have fed and clothed and taken care of, and they just,
and they just, I'm trying to think of a kind word to say without
going too overboard. They just thumb their nose up
in your face. You know, they acknowledge that you've
done nothing for them, that they've done it all. They're self-made.
You know, I'm self-made. What would you do with that person?
Exactly what God's gonna do. He says, you have been blessed
with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places before the
world began. The Father, he said, has blessed
you. He's blessed you. If you notice here also how the
Lord Jesus Christ here, the King of glory, gives all the glory
of salvation to the Father. You notice that? Because here's
the reason why. He's the first in love. I have
loved you, he says. Now listen, I have loved you
with an everlasting love. You know what that means? It
means there was never a time he did not love me. Never a time
he did not love me. Can I explain that? No. The secret things of the Lord
belong to the Lord. The revealed things belong to
us and our children. There are things that the Word of God revealed,
God has revealed in His Word that's for us to believe and
to lay hold of. And there are secret things that
we can't explain and we leave those alone. But our Lord here, He gives the
glory to His Father because He's the first in love, He's the first
in election, He's the first in calling, He's the first in purpose. I know this, I know this about
God is good. God is righteous, God is holy.
He can do no wrong. What He does is right. Henry
said one time, he said, God will save all that He can wisely save. I thought that was a profound
statement. He will save all that He can wisely save. Now these that He's speaking
to, the sheep, they are welcomed into the kingdom. They are welcomed in. They say,
welcome. And listen, it's an inheritance. It's an inheritance. You know, they inherit the kingdom
prepared for you. Not just prepared and see who
shows up. It's prepared for you. And listen,
it's an inheritance. Do you work for an inheritance?
By the very name of it shows you don't work. By the very definition
of it, you don't work. You don't work for an inheritance. If you did, it's not an inheritance,
it's wage. You got paid. Inherit. It's given to you. It's given
to you. It's prepared for you, He says
here, from the foundation of the world. It is a kingdom prepared. God has never ever done anything
that He did not finish. That He did not finish. When
God created the heavens and the earth, before He created Adam,
He was going to put Adam in the Garden of Eden. Everything in
that garden was complete. He did not create all things
and leave one thing left to Adam. He didn't do it. He said, Adam,
just dress it and keep it. Take care of it. Take care of
it. And this kingdom, this kingdom
has been prepared of our Father. He purposed it. And you and I
have been purchased for this kingdom. A whole multitude of
sinners that no man can number has been purchased for this kingdom. Our Lord said this in John 14,
I go away to prepare a place for you. And I heard my pastor say this, he
went and prepared a place of acceptance. I've never heard
that before. because I had no place before
God. I lost my place in Adam, and
Adam all die. I lost my place. But Christ said,
I go and prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare
a place for you, I come again, receive you myself, that where
I am, there you may be also. And here's what happens. In time,
in time, a sinner, here's the gospel, has an interest in it. He's born again, or he or she
is born again. You know what's happening now? The Holy Spirit
is preparing that sheep, that sinner, for that place. Right
now, you know, we go through our lives and all the things
that come and go in our lives, you know what's happening? You're
being prepared for that place. You're being prepared. You're
being weaned from this world. As my pastor said, even before
he passed away for the last few years, he said, he told me once,
he said, John, I pray every night. I will not wake up here the next
morning. I'll wake up in glory. Wake up in his, the Lord knows
how to wean us from this place. You know, you who believe, you
complain, I've complained about what's going on, why is this
happening, what's going on, you're being prepared for a place. And
this is not the place. This is the place God's going
to burn up. The place for the sheep is where their Lord is,
the shepherd is. It says here, if I talk about
this inheritance, it says in Galatians 3.18, for if the inheritance
be of the law, it's no more promise. If it's of works, it's no more
promise, no more given by promise. But God gave it to Abraham by
promise. He gave the inheritance to Abraham by promise. You have,
you have in Christ, you have eternal life and you have it
by promise. God promised it to His Son. God
promised you, you who believe. God promised all these for whom
Christ died. He promised them to His Son. He promised them to Him. You
know that we are His inheritance? We are His. Ask me, He said,
for the heathen, and I'll give them to you for your inheritance.
Can you imagine that Jesus Christ asked for you? Doug, can you
imagine that Christ asked for Doug West? That's amazing that he would
ask for John Chapman, a wretch like me. Well, here's a character revealed.
He's going to reveal the character of his sheep. He's going to distinguish
now, he's going to distinguish the difference between the sheep
and the goats. I was hungry. In verse 35, I was a hungry and
you gave me meat. I was thirsty and you gave me
drink. I was a stranger, and you took
me in. Naked, and you clothed me. I was sick, and you visited
me. I was in prison, and you came to me." You notice here
how their works followed them, not for salvation. You know that,
we're saved by the merits of Jesus Christ. But the Lord does
not ignore what His sheep do. He doesn't ignore their works.
He doesn't mention... Now listen, you notice here,
He doesn't mention what they believed. Because if God has
saved you, you will believe the gospel. You will believe the
gospel of God's sovereign grace. You'll believe it. But he doesn't
mention what they believed, but how they lived, how they treated
others. Because this is the revelation
of being like Christ. In this life, you and I are being
conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. And right here, he said,
I was in print, I was hungry, and you fed me. Being conformed to Christ is
not looking like him outwardly. It's a spirit, it's attitude. Mention is made of their obedience,
listen, not as their right to the kingdom, but as evidence
of their interest in the king of that kingdom. They denied
themselves as he did. You know what we looked at in
the Bible lesson this morning? Paul denied himself. He said, for
the glory of the gospel, for the sake of the gospel, for the
sake of God, I deny myself all these liberties that I have a
right to. You know, if you're going to
go visit somebody that's sick, you deny yourself of time or
something else you might have wanted to do. You know what it
takes to do that. You know what it takes to just
put yourself aside and go visit somebody that's sick. Or if somebody's
hungry, you take your money, your income, whatever, and you
help feed them, take care of them. They denied themselves. They
showed love to the brethren and they showed faith in Jesus Christ.
And here, look at the humility. This really got to stand out
here. Look at the humility of God's
sheep. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when
saw we thee hungry and fed thee? When did we ever see you hungry
and fed you? Or thirsty? and gave thee to
drink?" When did we ever see that? When saw we thee a stranger
and took thee in? When did we ever take a stranger?
We didn't see you like... When did we ever do this? Or
naked and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick or in
prison and came to... When did we ever really do any
of this? You notice something here. Let
me point this out. In God's providence, the Lord
brings some of his own into trials for the exercise of the grace
in others. You say, Ed's going through a
great trial. That trial's also for me and
how I react to it. You know that? God sends one
trial to his, he'll send a trial to one of his children, it's
a trial for the rest of us too. How we respond to him. It's a trial, it's a trial of
the exercise of grace in me. He might empty me and fill you.
And what a great trial that is for both of us. Let me give you
this. I thought about this. I would rather be the one hungry
than be the one with all the food and no heart to give it.
And no heart to give it. I'd rather be the one hungry
than the one who has all the food and all the accoutrements
of this life and have no heart to give it. They said, Lord, when did we
ever see you like this? They just couldn't remember.
They couldn't remember. What are these works that he's
speaking of here? It's the evidence of the fruit
of the Spirit. Love, joy, kindness, long-suffering,
patience. The Lord takes notice of their
works and they don't even know that they... I don't remember doing that.
I don't remember. And the king shall answer and
say unto them, verily I say unto you, inasmuch as you have done
it unto one of the least of these my brethren, you've done it unto
me. Whatever I do, I mean, from my heart, whatever I do to one
of God's children, I'm doing it to Jesus Christ himself. Are
we not one body? Is not that body real? It's real. So whatever we do to one part
of the body, we do for the whole body, and we do it to Jesus Christ,
who is the head of the body. What this reveals here is their
humble character. When God saves someone, He humbles
them. I'll tell you what, if God hasn't humbled you, you've
not been saved. You know one of the seven things
God said He hated? You know what one of them was? a proud look, like you somebody. They don't feel like they've
done anything worth mentioning. Lord, when did we ever see you
this way? And notice here how the saints
think lowly of their own good deeds. They especially think
they're not worthy to be mentioned, and to be compared with the glory
that has just been revealed to them. And no doubt, the saints in glory,
the saints in heaven, and when all God's children stand before
Him, they're going to stand in wonder that God would regard
their service so highly. But now look at the wicked, the
goats, the wicked He deals with now. In verse 41, "...then shall
He say also unto them on the left hand..." You notice He took
care of His sheep first. He took care of the sheep. He
put them into the kingdom. He said, everything's fine. Good. Enter in. Enter into the kingdom. Then he turns to the wicked.
Then shall he say unto them on the left hand, depart from me,
ye cursed into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his
angels. They are ordered to depart. To hear the judge say, get them
out of my sight. Get him out of my sight. They have a place to go to, and
that place is prepared also. They've got a place to go to,
it's called Everlasting Fire, and it's a prepared place, but
it's prepared for the devil and his angels, which says those
who go there are just as bad as he is, just as wicked. It's a place without mercy, without
hope, without light, That's why it's called outer darkness, a
darkness that's just never-ending. And notice here, they had the
same opportunities. In verse 42 through 45, he says, "...for
I was hungry, and you gave me no meat. I was thirsty, and you
gave me no drink. I was a stranger, and you took
me not in. Naked, and you clothed me not. Sick, and in prison,
and you visited me not. Then shall they answer him, saying,
Lord, I want you to notice how different the answer is. When
saw we thee hungry, or thirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick,
or in prison, and did not do these things? You notice that
the sheep, they said, when did we ever see you do this? I said,
we don't remember ever doing this. And the wicked, the self-righteous
said, when did we ever see this and not do it? They just had
their flag of self-righteous waving high. Then answered he
and said to them, Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as you did
not to the least of these, you did it not to me. Our Lord knows every thought.
He knows the thought of every heart. You know, scripture says
that even all our thoughts will be brought into judgment. Now
we know this, the sheeps, they are not afraid of judgment because
all their sins have been put away. They've been put away. It's evident here by their conduct
that they were graceless. The work of the Spirit was not
in them, even though they had made a profession. And these
shall go away, he said, into everlasting punishment. Why is
punishment everlasting? Because no sinner No sinner can
ever satisfy God's justice. No sinner can ever satisfy God's
justice. There's only one man, a perfect
man, who knew no sin. He satisfied God's justice. In hell, they still hate God. You know, when that rich man
lifted up his eyes in hell, he said, Father Abraham, go warn
them about what? This place, isn't that what Arminianism
does? Is that not what present day
preaching does? It warns them about a place called hell and
you can go to heaven if you accept Jesus Christ as your personal
Savior. And that's what that rich man said, go warn them about
this place. And he said, they have Moses
and the prophets. He said, no, no, if one rose
from the dead, they'll believe. He said, no, they won't. No,
they won't. If they won't believe Moses and
the prophet, they will not believe the one rose from the dead. Because
the messages are not about that place. He didn't say, go tell
them, Father Abraham, send somebody to tell them the gospel. Send
them to tell them about Jesus Christ. Send them to tell them
about His blood, His righteousness, His redemptive work, His substitution.
Tell them about Him! No, He said about this place. This place. And he says here, they will go
away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal
life. Into eternal life. We have a good end to look forward
to, don't we? Everyone who believes the gospel has a good end. We
have a good day coming, a better day coming. Our Lord is coming again. He's
coming back and he's going to take his throne and all nations
are going to be gathered before him, all sheep and all goats. And the sheep, the sheep are
going to go into eternal glory. And those who just made profession,
those who were just religious are going to go into eternal
fire. Sobering, isn't it? See, this
one is really not a parable there. This is the way it's going to
be. But the two parables in this one are sobering. They said,
Lord, tell us when. He said, okay, sit down here.
I've got something to tell you. I'm going to teach you. Are you listening?
We've gone through this chapter 24, 25, and when the Lord has
given us these instructions, He that hath ear to hear, let
him hear.